[citation needed] In 1989 he received the Pulitzer Prize for specialized reporting for investigative stories he wrote about the United States military for the Orange County Register.
Humes is the author of 13 nonfiction books, including the bestselling Mississippi Mud; No Matter How Loud I Shout; Baby E.R.
; A Man and His Mountain; and Garbology, a popular selection for the First Year Experience program on college campuses.
[citation needed] In 2001, Humes spent a year teaching a writing workshop at Whitney High School in Cerritos, California, a middle-class Los Angeles suburb.
He is married to journalist and author Donna Wares and lives in Southern California.